Native American Veterans

D.J. Vanas travels around the country speaking at conventions packed with audience members, giving motivational presentations that teach people how to find the unique warrior spirit deeply embedded within them.

Lori Piestewa, a single mother of two, hoped to one day realize her goal of attaining a college degree. But in April 2003, she became the first Native American soldier and the first woman to die in the Iraq War. For this #NNAHM, we honor her service.

On Feb. 23, 1945, five days after the initial assault on the island of Iwo Jima, Marines took control of the high ground and planted a flag atop Mt. Suribachi. Medal of Honor recipient Hershel “Woody” Williams and Navajo Code Talker Thomas H. Begay recall what it was like to see the Stars and Stripes fly high over the island.

The Code Talkers used native languages to send military messages before World War II. Navajo, which was unwritten and known by few outside the tribe, seemed to fit the Corps’ requirements. They took their language and developed a “Type One Code” that assigned a Navajo word to each English letter. In addition to being unbreakable, the new code also reduced the amount of time it took to transmit and receive secret messages.

The Warrior Tradition tells the astonishing, heartbreaking, inspiring, and largely-untold story of Native Americans in the United States military.

HUD-VASH is the Department of Housing and Urban Development-VA Supported Housing—a joint program between HUD and VA that assists Veterans and their families.

On National Navajo Code Talker Day, we celebrate the tenacity and remember the courage of the code talkers during World War II.

  HARLINGEN, Texas — VA Texas Valley Coastal Bend Health […]

Upcoming Indian Country VA claims events in Navajo Nation will take place April 10 in Kayenta, Arizona,  May 8 in Tuba City, Arizona, and June 14 in Chinle, Arizona.

In 2010, two nurses from the Overton Brooks VA Medical Center’s Community Outpatient Clinic in Texarkana, Ark., Delta Morris and Stephanie Greer, heard a Veteran say he did not have enough food for him and his wife.

After her military service, Alvina White Bull struggled to maintain […]

VA employees teamed up with Veterans service organizations to hold an outreach event for Native American Veterans on the White Mountain Apache Reservation.